environmentalism sidenote

[A]n international research team now thinks [Angkor's] demise was set much earlier [than 1431], by something that is the bane of many modern urban societies -- ecological failure and infrastructure breakdown.

"They created ecological problems for themselves and they either didn't see it until it was too late or they couldn't solve it even when they could see it," said Roland Fletcher, an archaeologist working on the Greater Angkor Project.